Issue - meetings

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The of the Report of the Leader of the Council to seek to create a governance arrangement for the Future High Street Funds, Terms of Reference that is clear in terms of decision making and the application of financial guidance, the purpose of which is to allow decisions to be taken quickly and at the appropriate level of seniority within the authority.

Councillor Simon Goodall updated Cabinet on the full discussion that took place at Infrastructure, Safety & Growth Scrutiny on Tuesday 15^th June. 

Councillor A Farrell joined the meeting at 6.16pm

Cllr Goodall updated on:

The work programme – once the programme was completed the progress would be reported back to committee, against the baseline Plan.

College funding- clarified the status of the college funding, where that was and the impact on the programme as a whole.

Requested confirmation that reporting on the progress of the programme would be reported to IS&G on a quarterly basis depending on the information available at the time.

Committee was also interested how skills as a wider topic with regards to the college could be impacted by the Council and this could be something that would be included on a wider Scrutiny agenda through one of the Scrutiny Committee’s

Committee also checked that the archaeology was being looked after and some input was being given from the County archaeologist to provide some guidance. 

Committee thanked officers for their hard work on this project and the ongoing work that is still being delivered

(Report of the Leader of the Council)

The Chair invited the Leader of the Council to introduce the Future High Street Fund: Terms of Reference Report to the Committee.  The Leader of the Council provided an overview to the Committee on the extent to which the council could influence town centre activities and recent trends on high streets and how town centres were used.  He further drew the attention of the Committee to the appointment of two external executives to the Programme Board; the Chief Executive of South Staffordshire College and the Chief Executive of the Stoke-On-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership.

The Leader of the Council introduced the Assistant Director, Growth & Regeneration and the Project Officer to the meeting.  The Assistant Director highlighted to the Committee that the aim of this report was to set out clear governance arrangements in terms of decision making and the application of financial guidance, which allowed decisions to be taken quickly and at the appropriate level of seniority within the authority.  Following consideration by this Committee this report was due to be considered by Cabinet at its meeting on 17^th June 2021 with recommendations to approve the report and to approve an indicative programme timeline in accordance with the terms of reference.

The Assistant Director provided an overview of progress to date on the project including commencement of enabling activity and the set up of the programme office as well an overview of the recruitment to posts and the arrangements put in place to continue with the current interim Programme Manager for a fixed three year period.  The Assistant Director highlighted to the Committee the importance of moving the project forward consistently over the full period in order to deliver the requirements in accordance with the programme required and that the proposed governance structure aimed to deliver that, and the Programme Board had been meeting regularly since February 2021. 

The Assistant Director reported that whilst the funding from the Future High Street Fund had to be spent by April 2024, work could continue beyond that date provided that the funding was from partner organisations. 

In terms of reporting arrangements, both Cabinet and this Committee would be updated quarterly on progress against delivery of the programme.

The Committee sought and received clarification in the following areas:

·       Programme – the extent to which the indicative programme included any contingencies where it was reported that the programme remained indicative and a working document, and whilst it had been prepared on a fairly conservative basis, it was likely to change over time.  Assurances were sought and received that once the programme was fixed, that progress would be reported to this Committee against that baselined plan.

·       Status of College funding – clarification was sought on the status of the College funding application where it was reported that whilst a round 1 bid had been made, as yet the College had not heard back from the Department for Education, which had been expected by this date.  Further clarification was requested on how far the council  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6